Macrocycles have garnered significant research interest due to their tunable structures, unique physicochemical properties, and broad range of applications in areas such as aggregation-induced emission (AIE), molecular recognition, bioimaging, and photocatalysis. While conventional carbon-rich macrocycles depend mainly on ring-size adjustments for property modulation, the incorporation of heteroatoms (N, O, and S) allows precise control over electronic structure, band gap, and functionality. This review summarizes recent advances (2020-2025) in the synthesis and applications of heteroatom-doped (N-, O-, S-, N,O-, and N,S-doped) macrocycles. It covers metal-catalyzed (Pd, Ni, Pt, Cu, Ti, Sn, and Fe) and metal-free (acidic/basic) strategies, post-synthetic modifications, and emerging applications in host-guest systems, sensors, OLEDs, OFETs, OPVs, and (photo)catalysis, aiming to advance the field and serve as a reference for cross-disciplinary researchers.
Liu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.